This invention relates generally to flexible remote controls which utilize ball bearings along their length.
Flexible ball bearing remote controls are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,103 to R. L. Shreve. A common problem with this type of control is the susceptibility of the ball bearings to sliding and stacking up at one end due to an operational environment which includes high gravity forces, such as in fighter aircraft, or long vertical lengths, such as in ocean-going vessels.
To avoid sliding and stacking up, various mechanical additions to the internal structure of the flexible ball bearing remote controls have been disclosed, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,264 to C. S. Tamarin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,154,966 to O. J. Bratz, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,905 to R. W. Schasphok. Although these inventions effectively maintain the spacing between the ball bearings along the length of the flexible ball bearing remote control, they do not eliminate sliding and stacking up in high gravity operational environments.
The prior art has tried to solve these deficiencies of sliding and stacking up with mechanical changes to the flexible ball being remote control itself, so that the improvement was not adaptable to existing flexible ball bearing remote controls and required the total replacement thereof at substantial expense.
Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide an improved device applied externally to existing flexible ball bearing remote controls, such as those of R. A. Dooley described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,222 and of R. Richoux described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,014, in new or existing installations, which eliminates sliding and stacking up of the flexible ball bearing remote control at one end in an operational environment including high gravity forces.